Illinois Code § 10

§ 10.

Definitions. As used in this Act: "Activities" means services provided for the purpose of conferring benefit upon assessed owners of property located within a business improvement district, including, but not limited to: (1) promotion of events taking place within the business improvement district; (2) furnishing of music; (3) marketing and economic development, including retail retention and recruitment; (4) providing security, sanitation, graffiti removal, street and sidewalk cleaning, and other services supplemental to base services; and (5) other services provided for the purpose of conferring benefit upon assessed owners of property located within the business improvement district. "Activities" does not include lobbying, as that term is defined in Section 2 of the Lobbyist Registration Act and Chapter 2-156 of the Municipal Code of Chicago. "Base services" means services provided by any public entity, or paid for wholly or in part out of public funds, generally throughout a municipality to real property within the municipality. "Business improvement district" means a contiguous area within a municipality in which activities, improvements, or activities and improvements are provided in addition to base services. Territory shall be considered contiguous for purposes of this Act even though certain completely surrounded portions of the territory are excluded from the business improvement district. For purposes of this Act, parcels are within the same contiguous area if they touch or join one another in a reasonably substantial physical sense or if they meet the criteria for annexation to a municipality under Section 7-1-1 of the Illinois Municipal Code. "Clerk" means the municipal clerk. "District charge" means a charge levied on behalf of a business improvement district for the purpose of acquiring, constructing, installing, or maintaining improvements or providing activities that will confer special benefits upon assessed property owners within the business improvement district. District charges levied for the purpose of conferring special benefits upon assessed property owners within a business improvement district are not taxes for the general benefit of a municipality, even if real property or persons not charged receive incidental or collateral beneficial effects. "District management association" means a private or not-for-profit entity that enters into a contract with a board of directors of a business improvement district to administer or implement activities and improvements specified in the district plan for a business improvement district. A district management association shall not be considered a public entity for any purpose. "District plan" means a proposal for a business improvement district that contains the information described in Section 15. "Governing body" means the corporate authorities of a municipality. "Improvements" means the acquisition, construction, installation, or maintenance of any tangible property provided for the purpose of conferring benefit upon assessed property owners located within a business improvement district. "Property owner" or "owner" means the record owner of fee simple interest in a real property subject to assessment, which will be deemed to be the person or entity that pays property taxes on the real property according to county records, unless another person or entity establishes to the municipality by clear and convincing evidence that they are the record owner of the fee simple interest. "Public entity" means (i) the State or any agency, board, or commission of the State, (ii) any school district, or (iii) any unit of local government. (Source: P.A. 103-646, eff. 7-1-24.)